Lemon Blossoms

Restaurant Quality Recipes, Quick and Delicious Meals Made at Home

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Last updated on September 6th, 2019 at 10:47 am

About Kathy McDaniel

Lemon Blossoms Kathy McDaniel

I am a professionally trained Chef and the recipe developer, content creator, food stylist, food photographer and dishwasher in chief of Lemon Blossoms.  

I obtained my culinary arts diploma in Southern California and have worked in the food industry ever since. My first job out of culinary school was for The Food Network working for Wolfgang Puck’s TV show. In the first 10 minutes of my first time assisting Chef Puck on set, I cut my fingers and bled all over white chocolate! You can only imagine how embarrassed I was! I thought my professional career was over – luckily they kept me around and later I joined the culinary team of Throwdown with Bobby Flay.

I’ve worked as Executive Chef in restaurants and have taught cooking classes at Williams Sonoma as well as a privately owned cooking school where I had the opportunity to work alongside many amazing Chefs like my friend Jet Tila. Teaching has been one of my favorite jobs!

I have also worked as a private chef for a few celebrity clients around the L.A. area as well as a caterer. I was a product developer for a line of gourmet food products and served as a culinary consultant.

I’ve been happily married to my very hot geek engineer husband (he will hate this sentence), and we have 2 amazing boys. One is a teen (who loves food as much as I do) and the other one is 7 years old (and an avid vegetarian). We have 2 sweet and spoiled dogs.

Collage of photos showing Kathy McDaniel and Wolfgang, Puck, Kathy McDaniel and The Food Network crew on set, Kathy and Jet Tila, Kathy and Robert Bleifer, Kathy and a line cook in a restaurant.

From left: Kathy and Chef Wolfgang Puck, Kathy on set with Food Network’s crew, Kathy and Chef Jet Tila, Kathy and Food Network’s Executive Chef Robert Bleifer, Kathy in a restaurant kitchen training a line cook.

FUN FACTS ABOUT ME

  • Favorite Dish: Peruvian Ceviche.
  • Last Meal: Steak Au Poivre.
  • Favorite Cuisine: Thai.
  • Love seafood but absolutely hate oysters.
  • Haven’t drank plain milk since I was 5 years old.
  • Absolutely hate plain milk (with passion).
  • Most arguments with my husband are about people liking plain milk! He loves milk – I don’t get it!
  • I could eat rice every day of my life.
  • I grew up eating so much lamb that I hardly ever eat it anymore.
  • My youngest son is vegetarian since birth.
  • My oldest son lives with Type 1 Diabetes (until we find a cure! This mom has hope!)
  • Favorite Restaurant: Cannot pick just one! Spago Beverly Hills, CA The French Laundry Yountville, CA  Hula Grill, Maui, HI and Palo (Disney Cruise Line – Disney Fantasy)
  • Favorite Fast Food: In-N–Out, Chick-Fil-A
  • Favorite Ingredient: Lemon
  • Phrase I use most often: Life is too short!
  • Fears: Karma (because Karma is a ….), scorpions.
  • I never say NO to a burrito and all the guacamole!
  • Everyday wear: Yoga pants and flip flops.
  • Favorite Color: Yellow

 

About Lemon Blossoms

My goal is to provide you with tried and tested recipes, step-by-step tutorials, videos, cooking tips and a little bit of food facts so you can be inspired and ready to cook easy and delicious restaurant quality meals at home.

Life is about balance and moderation so here you will find easy to make recipes, family friendly meals, one pan/one pot meals and healthier recipes as well as decadent and scrumptious dishes and some recipes with more involved preparations. 

I love bold flavors and I am inspired by cuisines from all over the world. Nothing makes me happier than a trip to an ethnic market and trying new foods. Here you will find many dishes inspired by international cuisines, although not all “authentic” – they will all be delicious!

Lemon Blossoms started after we moved to the South from Southern California. I was a bit home sick and had lots of free time (not having to commute in L.A. freed up about 30% of my day!). I immersed myself in the kitchen and cooked away! I wanted to share with family and friends what I was doing so I went to YouTube and watched a few (hundred) videos on how to create a blog (I am technically challenged). Three years later, hundreds of recipes have been published, thousands of photos have been taken and millions of people have visited this site. What started as a hobby has turned into the best job I’ve ever had!

Why the name Lemon Blossoms? 

Did I tell you this was just a hobby that was supposed to last 3 months? If I knew what I know now, the name would be something like “Easy Dinner Recipes and More!”.

In our home in Southern California we had a small and somewhat short lemon tree that produced incredible amounts of lemons. I could see the tree from the kitchen windows and no matter how many lemons I picked, the tree was always full and always looked as if it was about to collapse from the heaviness of the fruit. Some days I got annoyed by its fruitfulness (I love lemons but seriously how many lemons can a girl use in a day!). The annoyance would go away as soon as I got close to the tree and smelled it’s blossoms. I would hunch under the branches and stand still. It was the best fragrance in the world! Clean, soothing and totally magical. I miss that tree dearly, luckily if I close my eyes, I can still smell the aroma of the lemon blossoms.